Another motorist dies trying to save stray animal

Nagpur: 38-year-old Vishal Manwani died of head injury after he abruptly steered his car towards the right to avoid hitting a stray animal on Nara Road shortly after Friday midnight. His car turned turtle and hit a lamp post as well as the road divider.
It is learnt that Manwani was driving without the seat belt on.

Earlier this week, 25-year-old Shridutta Warade died in a similar manner when he was heading home from a dhabha on Wardha Road. Warade, who was also driving without the seat belt on, was thrown out of the car as the vehicle turned turtle and hit a post and a tent on the footpath. A stray dog, which also died in the incident, had come in front of his car.

Sources close to the family said Manwani, who was working as an agent at Itwari market, was returning home at Mahalaxmi apartment in Jaripatka when the incident took place.

“He (Manwani) may have tried to avoid hitting one of those stray animals, who can be often seen loitering at the place where the accident occurred. As the driver’s side glass was kept open, his head must have jutted out when the car turned turtle after hitting the pole and then the divider. He banged his head against the divider and the road,” he said.

Police said the impact of the hit was such that the car rolled over to the other side of the divider. Manwani’s skull got ruptured at the spot. Police had to cover the smashed skull with a cloth before shifting the body to Mayo Hospital.

Manwani’s family was alerted by a passerby who knew the family well. Cops from Jaripatka police station reached the spot soon after getitng the information. The cops had to toil hard to move the car to the side of the road.

Senior PI Parag Pote of Jaripatka police station said the cops are now trying to retrieve some CCTV footage from the spot to ascertain facrs. “As of now, there is no one to ascertain the exact reason of the accident. We are now trying to find some eye-witnesses in the case,” he said.

Jaripatka police have registered an offence of rash and negligible driving against Manwani and also charged him for causing his own death due to negligence.